Star Wars: The Old Republic

As I mentioned in my last column, I saw a gameplay trailer for the new Star Wars MMO coming out. It's being done by Bioware in conjunction with LucasArts. If you have played Star Wars games, either single-player, or the existing MMO, then you know this is a good thing. I have played Star Wars Galaxies several times at different phases in it's meandering lifespan. I have revelled in finally reaching 'glowie' status and have ground away at the Jedi path, and have also had my Jedi status handed to me on a silver platter. In short, while I have enjoyed playing SWG in the past, it can be kind of confusing, and if you leave the game and come back, chances are they will have completely changed the mechanics and you will have to learn how to play all over again.

Bioware is the outfit that produced the best of all the Star Wars games that I have played, Knights of the Old Republic. It was set about 4000 years before the events in the movies, at the height of the Sith Wars and had a role-playing system based on Wizards of the Coast's Star Wars Roleplaying Game. It had great gameplay, and the roleplaying aspect was excellent, driven by a menu system that let you choose your responses to events that you encounter. The new MMO they are developing uses this same system and also the concept of accruing Light side or Dark side points. These points are earned based on choices you make, and have quite a large impact on gameplay down the road, from abilities and equipment available, to how people react to you. This was one of the coolest aspects of KoTOR.

The combat system also looks very promising, with a few features I have not seem before. Combat seems a lot more real-time. In the trailer, a smuggler-class was engaging multiple opponents at the same time, moving to cover and firing from cover. It was impressive. While in combat, the system indicates places in the terrain that will provide cover, and also indicates where others are taking cover

The word used quite a few times in the trailer was 'epic'. The developers want the combat to feel epic - heroic - not routine, but exiting. Based on what I have seen, Star Wars: The Old Republic has a chance to immerse the player in its world like few other games have been able to. The story seems to be very important to the developers - an integral part of the game, not just a construct to build the game around. I love my WoW, but might have to take some time away from Azeroth to jump into the Star Wars world again.